Leaving a trial

You can stop taking part in a trial at any time. You may decide to stop taking part in a trial if your condition is getting worse, you are finding it difficult to participate or you have concerns about the intervention. You can also choose to leave the trial at any time without giving a reason and without it affecting the care that you receive.

If you do withdraw from a clinical trial, the relationship between you and your doctor will not be affected; however, it is important to discuss your decision to leave a trial with the research team so that they can advise you about any other effects of leaving the trial and what will happen to information about you that has been collected for the trial.

After you leave the trial, your doctor will talk to you about other treatment for your disease or condition, if it is recommended.

If there are signs that the intervention in a trial could be unsafe, the research team or the regulators monitoring the trial will stop the trial. Also, if the new intervention is found to be clearly superior or inferior during the trial, the trial may be stopped to reduce the number of people who receive the less beneficial intervention.